You aren't. It's tech-site goers that are in the minority (especially the big Apple-critics on tech sites, and they don't even know it.)

I was totally expecting to puke over the design and when I saw the photos I was really impressed. I'm sure the techies will be 'meh' because the design didn't change a lot but it seems to me once Apple has invested In a process (unibody, stainless steel antenna) they don't change it for the sake of change. IMO changing a design for no good reason isn't innovation, it's just being different for the sake of being different.

I'm really becoming disillusioned with Apple. I love my iPhone 4S (which I purchased at full price and not on contract) and I love iCloud and I also really like my new MacBook Pro. But is this really the best they can do?
Sure, people will still queue for days to get their hands on this iPhone, but I certainly won't. What they've really announced is an upgraded iPhone 4S with an extra row of icons and a wireless technology that is no where near ready for mass use. I remember the days when Apple set the market, not just followed it. Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave right now.
To be fair, I am looking forward to the availability of iOS 6 and this upgraded iTunes that was mentioned earlier today. Scott Forstall, you have to become CEO as soon as possible and take the company out of the hands of Tim Cook and the Dixons guy. It took more than numbers and spreadsheets to create the brand that is Apple, it took imagination.
Perhaps this is an unfair critique (and I would be happy to be told that it is), or perhaps personal/mobile technology has reached a point where it's future can only be evolutionary and not revolutionary.

Jesus christ...I think folks were writing this word for word when the 4S came out.

WTF do you people want? This thing is LOTS better than my iPhone 4 and that's only 2 years old.

A6 people...it's twice as fast as the 4S. It should be interesting to find out what's inside...a dual core A15 at lower clock speed would be interesting. It means Apple is one step ahead of the competition using quad A9s.

Hmmmmm.....that does change things.
That now means the AT&T phone is not a world phone, as advertised, Apple is not making one phone for all networks, as originally reported, and it may be to my advantage to move to verizon......however I will admit most of my time is spent in the US,A, and there in lies the rub......

I have been with AT&T since the iphone 3G (came back to them for the iPhone after dumping cingular to go to T-Mobile.....never again. Only Sprint has worse coverage) and will admit it is tempting to try another network......I can actually transfer my number over now......dammit. I thought I was all decided......

I need to figure out the coverage for Verizon in rural areas I may visit, such as Buckingham, VA......

as an example, the Galaxy S II (released around eighteen months ago back in February 2011) has LTE and dual-band WiFi (2.4 and 5Ghz) and sports a relatively large screen which is quite usable. it's about 0.9 mm thicker than the iPhone 5, however. another example is the HTC EVO 4G LTE, released earlier this year. it also has LTE and dual-band WiFi, a large screen, and is around 1 mm thicker than the iPhone 5. and, there are probably several more examples.

the iPhone 5 looks pretty good; i may get one soon.

The Galaxy S II released in February last year was the GSM model, the HD and LTE models weren't released until October, less than a year ago.

What's the point of the misleading comment, this is the Internet, we can check on lies.

Better than my Bose, better than my Skullcandy's, listening to Mozart through my LeBron James limited edition PowerBeats by Dre is almost as good as my Sennheisers.

Is there a way to show more than just cell towers? I like the shaded maps because they account for mountainous terrain. Go up my neighborhood and you get full Verizon LTE coverage. At my house at the bottom of the hill, 3G only.

Is there a way to show more than just cell towers? I like the shaded maps because they account for mountainous terrain. Go up my neighborhood and you get full Verizon LTE coverage. At my house at the bottom of the hill, 3G only.

I wish it did, however that's the best site I have found so far.
And yes, Valleys do suck. No cellular service seems to be willing to boost signal to take those into account.
I do remember that AT&T offered a dropped spot reporting system with the iPhone 4 (both of mine were stolen, so I don't know if it's still offered. Been waiting for this phone to upgrade again.)

More negativity than I expected. The iPhone (and the smartphone revolution it inspired) is starting to stabilize and move into a period of refinement rather than door-busting new features. I see a lot of people whining that the iPhone 5 didn't wow' them but they're not mentioning what features they wanted for that wow-factor to take place. For years I've had some various ideas about what I wanted to see from new Apple hardware but I've pretty much run out of ideas as well. Now it is just polishing them up, gradually evolving them, and gradually evolving the software to do more and more.
Someone complained that it lacks a 'wider' screen. No thanks on that, I like being able to comfortably reach my thumb across the phone without having to change my hand position. That probably won't be possible anymore without a little bit of vertical movement, but that won't be as big a deal as horizontal movement. Some people have bigger hands and could comfortably use a little more screen width but there are plenty with smaller hands who could not. Apple would have to introduce additional versions. In any case, I'm pretty sure that people whining for something like a wider screen really just don't get Apple. They're designing a product that is comfortable for everyone (and not everyone wants a huge electronic device glued to the side of their head and bulging in their pocket).
Someone complained about sub-standard battery life for a smartphone. That's just false.
I'm more interested in revolutionary new ideas that would have inspired that 'wow' factor, or made a competing device so much more 'wow' than the iPhone. Instead it just seems like a bunch of people justifying their beliefs for their own individual platform choice (which we see plenty of in relation to Apple as well, here). Also, the folks who shop on a checklist—"8 MP camera? Check."—there are plenty of manufacturers who don't care about quality and execution but which are happy to check of every mark on a person's list. "3D Interface? Check." I care more about the quality and how much of a delight it actually is to use the device.
And I agree. This wasn't a through-and-through 'wow' iPhone, and I'm not so sure we'll see that again anytime soon. We won't be seeing it from their competitors anytime soon, either. (Maybe some of this has to do with people seeing the reveal before it takes place and then somehow still expecting to be wowed by a feature list they've already gradually been introduced to). For me, I think the time has come to pick a release point in the tick-tock process that Apple seems to be following and upgrade every other year, and I think the iPhone 5 is going to represent that point.

Very well said. I had a similar conversation at work with a fandroid owner saying nothing revolutionary about the 5. I agreed it is more evolutionary at this point. The original iPhone was revolutionary and the competitors have never been.

I have upgraded every year (at zero cost because of high resale value) but the 5 may be the point I finally start upgrading every two years as well.

The CPU is the most interesting aspect of this to me, actually, the only interesting aspect. If it really is a Cortex A15, that would represent a huge leap in power over the old A9, but Apple were only claiming a 2x improvement. The GPU is surely the same quad core chip from the iPad 3, and not the far more powerful Power VR Rogue. That will surely surface in the iPad 4...

Shame about the lack of NFC and the tiny screen size, but at least there's plenty of interesting competition to buy from now.

The CPU is the most interesting aspect of this to me, actually, the only interesting aspect. If it really is a Cortex A15, that would represent a huge leap in power over the old A9, but Apple were only claiming a 2x improvement. The GPU is surely the same quad core chip from the iPad 3, and not the far more powerful Power VR Rogue. That will surely surface in the iPad 4...

Shame about the lack of NFC and the tiny screen size, but at least there's plenty of interesting competition to buy from now.

More negativity than I expected. The iPhone (and the smartphone revolution it inspired) is starting to stabilize and move into a period of refinement rather than door-busting new features. I see a lot of people whining that the iPhone 5 didn't wow' them but they're not mentioning what features they wanted for that wow-factor to take place. For years I've had some various ideas about what I wanted to see from new Apple hardware but I've pretty much run out of ideas as well. Now it is just polishing them up, gradually evolving them, and gradually evolving the software to do more and more.
Someone complained that it lacks a 'wider' screen. No thanks on that, I like being able to comfortably reach my thumb across the phone without having to change my hand position. That probably won't be possible anymore without a little bit of vertical movement, but that won't be as big a deal as horizontal movement. Some people have bigger hands and could comfortably use a little more screen width but there are plenty with smaller hands who could not. Apple would have to introduce additional versions. In any case, I'm pretty sure that people whining for something like a wider screen really just don't get Apple. They're designing a product that is comfortable for everyone (and not everyone wants a huge electronic device glued to the side of their head and bulging in their pocket).
Someone complained about sub-standard battery life for a smartphone. That's just false.
I'm more interested in revolutionary new ideas that would have inspired that 'wow' factor, or made a competing device so much more 'wow' than the iPhone. Instead it just seems like a bunch of people justifying their beliefs for their own individual platform choice (which we see plenty of in relation to Apple as well, here). Also, the folks who shop on a checklist—"8 MP camera? Check."—there are plenty of manufacturers who don't care about quality and execution but which are happy to check of every mark on a person's list. "3D Interface? Check." I care more about the quality and how much of a delight it actually is to use the device.
And I agree. This wasn't a through-and-through 'wow' iPhone, and I'm not so sure we'll see that again anytime soon. We won't be seeing it from their competitors anytime soon, either. (Maybe some of this has to do with people seeing the reveal before it takes place and then somehow still expecting to be wowed by a feature list they've already gradually been introduced to). For me, I think the time has come to pick a release point in the tick-tock process that Apple seems to be following and upgrade every other year, and I think the iPhone 5 is going to represent that point.

Very well said. I had a similar conversation at work with a fandroid owner saying nothing revolutionary about the 5. I agreed it is more evolutionary at this point. The original iPhone was revolutionary and the competitors have never been.

I have upgraded every year (at zero cost because of high resale value) but the 5 may be the point I finally start upgrading every two years as well.

Removing the hardware buttons altogether would have been ideal (In my opinion after using a device without one for years - broken iPad home button and my Galaxy Nexus). And I think (hope) the mind-blowing innovation will be closer to that of Google glasses.

When I was using my company issued Android phone, one of my biggest gripes was the lack of a hardware button. It is so much easier to grab the phone and push the button on the top screen to come out of sleep and swipe the screen with my thumb to unlock. I hated having to reach for a power button on the side of the phone before I could do anything else.

Interestingly enough, reading through the posts, it really does seem as though Android users have gotten used to having to use two hands to operate their phones. Maybe I am an old timer that was used to using cell phones before they came smart, but I still like being able to operate my phone with a single hand and use my thumb a lot. I know that I have small hands (especially for a male), but that just wasn't possible on my HTC Android phone with a 4" screen, so I am happy, no ecstatic, that Apple did not increase the width of the iPhone5. fwiw, I wonder if this difference in width can be tracked to phone usage by gender, since most women have smaller hands than guys.

So how do you think it will stack up against the dual core processor in most of the US versions of the Galaxy S III?

Actually the US Galaxy S3 has a Snapdragon S4 based on (but isn't fully) Cortex A15 compliant. On a CPU basis, it probably performs very similar. On a GPU basis the iPhone 5 will be better by some margin as the Adreno in the S3 is good, but not as powerful as the PowerVR in the iPhone 5.

LOL we have these conversations every year. And the results is the same every year.

If people are looking for Apple to drop the ball, this iPhone 5 *still* aint it. You'll have to go fishing elsewhere.

And as far as screen size the market place will decide that. So if Apple did drop the ball in not making a 4.3 or 4.5 size phone we'll see it in decreased sales. It's not rocket science. Yet somehow I have a feeling when sales numbers are released they'll be through the roof and once again a lot of people will have egg on their faces.

No, no, no, no. Not clock speed, but what really matters - actual performance. Androids usually have higher have clock speeds than similar iPhones, but the iPhones continue to out perform them in real app operating speed.

More negativity than I expected. The iPhone (and the smartphone revolution it inspired) is starting to stabilize and move into a period of refinement rather than door-busting new features. I see a lot of people whining that the iPhone 5 didn't wow' them but they're not mentioning what features they wanted for that wow-factor to take place. For years I've had some various ideas about what I wanted to see from new Apple hardware but I've pretty much run out of ideas as well. Now it is just polishing them up, gradually evolving them, and gradually evolving the software to do more and more.

Precisely! The smartphone industry may be booming right now, but in terms of technology all the major "wow"ness has happened already. Now it's just about faster, clearer, better. Same thing happened in the CPU industry a few years ago. Huge jumps from 8086 to 286 to Pentium; FPUs, MMX/SSE, cache, etc; but now it's more about faster, smaller, less power consumption. Eventually revolutionary jumps just slow down. Not to say Apple won't have "wow"s to give ever again, just not every 12 months.

All the negativity is just haters and what I like to think of as faux fans. They have the fanaticism of a regular fanboy, but only when they can use it to make themselves feel superior to others. The kind of people that get iPhones or buy "Organic" because it's "in" and/or a fashion statement. Fair weather fans to be sure. (Freaking hipsters.)

As a whole, the iPhone 5 is an engineering achievement. Every component works well with each other, and integrates wonderfully with the whole Apple environment. It pushes the high standard of the 4S even further. I won't be buying one, but that's cause I'm cheap.

(as for what would have wow'ed me... holograms!! And forget voice control, I want mental control. I'd wait all night in front of an Apple store for that.)

Jesus christ...I think folks were writing this word for word when the 4S came out.

WTF do you people want? This thing is LOTS better than my iPhone 4 and that's only 2 years old.

A6 people...it's twice as fast as the 4S. It should be interesting to find out what's inside...a dual core A15 at lower clock speed would be interesting. It means Apple is one step ahead of the competition using quad A9s.

Exactly. It's the thinnest mobile on the market. The pixel density is the highest, and since the screen is 'only' 4" it might easily be the fastest one as well.

4. Of course not. You'll have to either wait two years or buy the unlocked version.

But AT&T offers free unlocking for iphones bought with a contract even with 2 years if you pay for the early termination fee. I was wondering if you can do this immediately after you purchase a locked iphone 4 or 4s, or would you have to wait for, say a month first...

You will note that on all of apples designs they generally are trying to strip back unnecessary ornamentation and move towards a purity in concept. This is form-following-function in an extreme sense and I find it quite exciting. It is also why I want more screen and less phone.

Well, Samsung et al have to leave enough space for their name and a phone company logo, so some space around the screen will remain.

Better than my Bose, better than my Skullcandy's, listening to Mozart through my LeBron James limited edition PowerBeats by Dre is almost as good as my Sennheisers.

Precisely! The smartphone industry may be booming right now, but in terms of technology all the major "wow"ness has happened already. Now it's just about faster, clearer, better. Same thing happened in the CPU industry a few years ago. Huge jumps from 8086 to 286 to Pentium; FPUs, MMX/SSE, cache, etc; but now it's more about faster, smaller, less power consumption. Eventually revolutionary jumps just slow down. Not to say Apple won't have "wow"s to give ever again, just not every 12 months.
All the negativity is just haters and what I like to think of as faux fans. They have the fanaticism of a regular fanboy, but only when they can use it to make themselves feel superior to others. The kind of people that get iPhones or buy "Organic" because it's "in" and/or a fashion statement. Fair weather fans to be sure. (Freaking hipsters.)
As a whole, the iPhone 5 is an engineering achievement. Every component works well with each other, and integrates wonderfully with the whole Apple environment. It pushes the high standard of the 4S even further. I won't be buying one, but that's cause I'm cheap.
(as for what would have wow'ed me... holograms!! And forget voice control, I want mental control. I'd wait all night in front of an Apple store for that.)

I tend to agree, and the criticisms are largely irrational or unrealistic. But, we go through this with the troll army every year. They live for these moments.

Hmmmmm.....that does change things.
That now means the AT&T phone is not a world phone, as advertised, Apple is not making one phone for all networks, as originally reported, and it may be to my advantage to move to verizon......however I will admit most of my time is spent in the US,A, and there in lies the rub......

I have been with AT&T since the iphone 3G (came back to them for the iPhone after dumping cingular to go to T-Mobile.....never again. Only Sprint has worse coverage) and will admit it is tempting to try another network......I can actually transfer my number over now......dammit. I thought I was all decided......

I need to figure out the coverage for Verizon in rural areas I may visit, such as Buckingham, VA......

It will probably still work on 3G, 3G+ etc outside the US.

Better than my Bose, better than my Skullcandy's, listening to Mozart through my LeBron James limited edition PowerBeats by Dre is almost as good as my Sennheisers.